HARBOUR VIEW, PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday, January 10, 2025, His Excellency Governor Ajamu G. Baly held the annual New Year Reception at the Cabinet of the Governor. During the event, the Governor delivered his New Year’s address followed by a toast. The New Year’s reception of the Governor is an annual event where the Governor hosts a cross-section of the Sint Maarten community.
SPEECH
Honorable President of Parliament; Honorable Prime Minister; Honorable President of the Collectivity of Saint Martin; Honorable Members of Parliament; Members of the High Councils of State; Honorable members of the Council of Ministers; Vice-President of the Joint Court of Justice; Commander of the Marines detachment on Sint. Maarten, Representative of the Dutch Government; Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen; Good evening.
On behalf of my wife Janique and I, Happy New Year and thank you for being here with us this evening. We really appreciate it. As we embark on this journey together through this new year 2025 and in my service to you, the people of St. Maarten, as Governor of this great island paradise we all call home, I would like to take a moment to briefly, as most do at this time of year, reflect on the past year and subsequently focus on the road ahead, the future.
The past year has been quite a unique one to say the least. A few noteworthy mentions in this regard are:
• The country experienced two elections in one year in a span of just over 7 months;
• The re-opening of our airport by Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix, more than 7 years after damage incurred by hurricanes Irma and Maria; and
• An energy crisis that had the citizens, businesses, and tourists alike frustrated and at their wit's end trying to figure out how to cope and manage the situation.
Shifting now to the road ahead, the future.
In planning for this new year and the future in general, we take stock of where we are, we look to the past to see where we came from, and we then respond to our current situation with detailed planning of where we want to be, our goals and we plan accordingly taking into account what we will need to get us there and the steps we need to take to achieve these goals. So where are we, St. Maarten?
In 2025, we will celebrate 15 years of our autonomous status within the Kingdom. What has this brought us? What were our goals and aspirations, and what are they now? What progress have we made, and where do we go from here? These are some of the questions we should ask ourselves and seek the answers to. In doing so it is my firm belief that it is imperative that one of the areas we lay emphasis on is our youth. Like generations in the past have done for us, we must realize that in order for our future to be bright, we have to set our children on the right path today. The seed of greatness is planted way before the tree of greatness can bloom and stands firm as a pillar within the community.
We are all connected; the lives of our youth are very much dependent on the decisions and actions taken by us today, and our future is dependent on them. They after all are St. Maarten’s future!
If you want to see the state of St. Maarten in 25-30 years from now. Take a look at the state of the youth today. How does it look? Well, ask our Chief of Police, ask our schools, ask our head of the Court of Guardians, the NGOs, NPOs, and the like about the work they carry out within civil society and what they encounter there, or ask the youth themselves. And let me be clear in stating that I am not implying that it is all bad, I am simply aiming for all of us to come to the conscious realization that if we want a better tomorrow, a better future,e we have to plan for it today we have to better the lives of our children today. Be an active contributor to the cultivation of their dreams and aspirations, a contributor to their positive development, a beacon of hope, and a provider of somewhere they can be comfortable and have that safe space and feel the warm embrace of this their community, their home, their island paradise, their village.
I am not just talking about your children I am talking about all the children of this country, because when we neglect one child, we have to realize we are then neglecting one aspect of our future, because we are all connected in one way or the other.
If it affects 1 of us within the community, it affects us all. If not today, one way or another tomorrow. So what type of environment are we creating for our youth, what are we exposing them to, and at what vulnerable age?
Are we taking care of our youth now so that St. Maarten can exist and thrive way into the future? Are we preparing our leaders of tomorrow? Are we preparing them to be leaders of this country? Or are we, with the decisions we are taking now and the dangers we are exposing them to, setting them up to be but followers so others can come in and lead them in their own land? We have to prepare, cultivate, and expose our youth in ways and to an atmosphere that is conducive to them and, therefore, St. Maarten being fit in mind, body, and spirit to take on any and all challenges that lie ahead. Just as those before us planned for the future development of our country, so do we have to plan for the future development of our country.
The youth are dependent on and affected by, first, the family environment, the school environment, and the community environment. So, we all have to be their support system. We have to make sure this system/the system does not fail them. Instill in their morals, values, and the value of things, the value of lives, including their own.
Ensure that this country, this village, is a place where they can find peace, unity, strength, inspiration, and, most importantly, a beautiful life. By providing them with fertile ground for their dreams to sprout, grow wings, and fly into the very future, they and all of us dream about for 2025 and beyond. In doing so we take care of the future of St. Maarten.
(In closing) People of SXM, as your Governor, I would like to encourage all of us to be conscious of the roles every single one of us play in this interconnected island paradise we all call home, whether for now or forever, and know what affects our neighbor, our elderly, our rich, our poor, our unemployed, our economy, our mental health, and our mental health patients, the sick, the shut-in, our environment and lastly our youth affects us all as well. It may not do so for all of us in the same degree or at the same time, but it will do so in some shape, form or fashion someday. So let us all ,in this New Year and beyond, be cognizant of this fact in the roles we all play and decisions we make, no matter how minute or grand those roles and decisions may be or seem, and let us all act, at all times with this interconnectedness or general well-being in mind for the greater good of SXM and all of her people.
Happy New Year to you and your families. God bless each and everyone, and God bless our great and prosperous nation, St. Maarten!
